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All That Glisters  by Lindelea 7 Review(s)
ansohobbit@hotmail.comReviewed Chapter: 40 on 11/27/2004
Oh! I read this with my heart in my throat. Merry tries to be brave with joking and teasing, but even if he trusts Strider I think that deep down ne`s a little scared too. Even if he has seen what has been done to Frodo in Rivendell. Pippin is about to fall apart, poor hobbit. It is as tough for him to see Merry being cut into as it was for Sam to watch Frodo. Estella is brave also, never leaving her dear one`s side.

Great as always! Off to read more...

DreamflowerReviewed Chapter: 40 on 11/25/2004
I'm just a little confused. Strider was sending Merry off into a hypnotic sleep, yet this begins with Merry just out of the bath?

At any rate, an excellent description of the tension and fear involved when a loved one faces the surgeon's knife. I did enjoy the banter between Elessar and his Elven brother--reminiscent of the banter between the cousins, and perhaps meant to reassure them.

I have a feeling this is going to be rougher on Pip than it is on Merry.

Author Reply: the bath was a bit of backtracking in the story. Sorry if it was confusing.

BodkinReviewed Chapter: 40 on 11/18/2004
from Punch: September 5 1891

'Oh, just won't the street-boys chyike me and 'ousemaids of BUMBLE make sport?'

Written in London slang by a . . . sort of policeman. Different spelling. Must be a word from my grandfather's vocabulary.

(found on the net)




Author Reply: sort of policeman?

Interesting word, though. Our dad brought back a lot of Italian from WWII. There was one word he used a lot, that sort of meant "wait a minute". I never heard it from anyone else until one day we were watching an old episode of "I Love Lucy", the one where she was in Italy, treading out grapes, and the phrase was used! I have no idea how it's spelt, but it sounds like "ahshpet".

BodkinReviewed Chapter: 40 on 11/17/2004
Chi, like ch - eye; -ik, like Eisenhower; -ing like -ing. I think it was probably a word from my grandfather.

He came back from WW1 with various words (probably not including that) that I did not realise had a French origin until donkey's years after I was adult - like oolay for milk (au lait), and booboos for candy (bonbons).

But chi-ike sounds more London. Might not be though.

Grey WondererReviewed Chapter: 40 on 11/17/2004
I half expected Pippin to protest being seated any distance at all away from Merry but Sam was very quick to put a stop to that. Merry has quite an audience for his surgery. You couldn't get the same deal anywhere that I've been. Seems Strider doesn't mind an audience. Great chapter.

loved the opening line: (Pippin had watched all the preparations as keenly as the bird whose name he bore )

also: (Will you Brandybucks ever take leave of your unnatural fascination with water?’)


and this: (‘I’m in league with the chambermaids,’ Elessar said in kind. ‘As long as you’re in it, they don’t have to change the sheets!’)




Author Reply: I'm sure the hobbits wanted to be much closer, but then, the surgeon does need to have access to the table!

Hmmm, wonder if I could get the folk around here to sleep in this morning so *I* can put off changing sheets...

Thanks!

BodkinReviewed Chapter: 40 on 11/17/2004
So Sam is on Pippin-watch. Probably just as well - he does seem a bit shaky. More so than Estella really. Good gallows humour going on - as it always does when people are under pressure.

'‘Yes,’ Elladan put in. ‘My younger brother does appreciate a tale before he’s sent to his sleep.’

‘My older brother has been known to pause in his adult affairs and settle his creaking joints to listen to children’s tales,’ the King returned affably. ‘It makes him feel young at heart.’

‘He must listen to an awful lot of children’s tales,’ Pippin said, eyeing the son of Elrond.'

Love this bit of sibling chi-iking (that is a word I don't think I've ever seen written. It appears not to be in the dictionary.) And Pippin's addition is lovely.


Author Reply: chi-iking? how do you pronounce that? Interesting word.

Hoped, when writing this, that Elf-writers would not take exception to the banter between Estel and his foster-brother. I figured that Elladan and Elrohir couldn't be serious *all* the time, even with the sorrow in their past (and present, I suppose, with both their parents "gone"). I'm still a little tentative whenever I write Elves.

Thanks for commenting!

Connie B.Reviewed Chapter: 40 on 11/17/2004
Oh, you split this up into more than one chapter. Even though I know everything turns out all right in the end, it's still hard to wait through this with them. Merry puts up a good front of cheerfulness, even though he had to be at least a little nervous about what was about to happen. I wish I had been able to be that upbeat when I had my elective surgery.

Please don't keep us waiting too long.

Thanks.

Connie B.

Author Reply: Thanks for the quick review!

I will try not to keep you waiting too long, even though the Muse is straining at the (I forget the rest of the cliche) to write the story of Freddy going South to live, and his friendship with Beregond... so little time, so many ideas.

The chapter ran too long to post in one piece, and I actually did you a favour, breaking it where I did. It's actually less of a cliff-hanger than it might be.

Ah, hobbits, with their light talk in heavy circumstances...

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